Report: 49ers have not budged in negotiations with Brandon Aiyuk
July 17, 2024
Report: 49ers have not budged in negotiations with Brandon Aiyuk
17 comments
Why should they? Nothing has changed
Good
At what point do we start blaming the front office for this mess?
Fans are mad at Aiyuk for flexing what little leverage he has on social media but imo low-balling an elite player for 4 months is just as bad.
Last year the front office fucked around and found out with Bosa. They low-balled for months which led to a holdout which led to Bosa not being ready for the season.
I was hoping the front office learned their lesson after that. Seems like they didn’t.
nor should they
*Niners!*
Good. Love BA, but the team has to be realistic. There’s a fixed amount of money to go around and Brock’s contract is due this coming offseason which will make a major impact on the pool of cap funds available.
If they give Aiyuk what he wants, there is zero chance we can keep the defense together. Consider guys like Greenlaw and Mooney Ward as good as gone.
Fact is, Aiyuk has no leverage. They can make him play out his contract and tag him for the following two years if needed. He was offered a fair deal that would pay him something like $15M more than he’d make if they just held on to him with successive tags.
[removed]
If a deal is not made and Aiyuk plays on the 5th year option that’s $14M.
Then, we can use a non-exclusive franchise tag on him for ~$25M. Either a team tops that and gives us two 1sts (score!) or we pay him ~$25M in 2025.
If a team didn’t pony up two 1sts, we tag him again for ~$30M in 2026.
In total, that would be paying him ~$69M over three years, $23M/year.
Jaylen Waddle, who has been more productive than Aiyuk (and while competing with Tyreek, just as Aiyuk competes with Deebo and Kittle, which I would say is comparable) just signed a $28M/yr deal.
Based on Waddle’s deal, Aiyuk’s market value would be somewhere in the ballpark of $26.5-27.5M.
So we have a guy we can get two 1sts for at worst, and pay him $23M/year average over three years on the tag at best. If our FO has offered anything around $26-27M average and Aiyuk hasn’t taken the deal, that’s on him. Assuming a $26M/year deal for three years, he’d still make $9M more over the next three years by signing a contract. According to some sources $26M/year is what we offered him.
**Look at it this way: we can either have him cheap on a 5th year + non-exclusive tag x2, or we can have him cheap this season and get two 1sts for him per the tag rules.**
Aiyuk is overplaying his hand here. I don’t think there’s a team in the NFL that would be willing to give up two 1sts for him, especially considering they’d be paying him $28M+ per year after doing so. I don’t think there’s a team in the NFL that would be willing to give up a 1st and a 2nd for him either, considering that didn’t happen before the draft.
A lot of people have been coming back to me saying “well he can sit.” Well, no, he can’t.
If he sits this year he will not accrue a season on his rookie contract and he’ll be in the same exact place he was last year.
If he plays under the 5th year option this year then refuses to sign the non-exclusive tag or signs and refuses to play he’s giving up an entire season’s salary – something no NFL player making tens of millions of dollars a year will do.
***If Aiyuk’s goal is to maximize his bag – something I would never fault any NFL player for doing – his best option seems to be to sign a 3-year deal with the 49ers at a rate above $23M/year and below $28M/year, or to convince another NFL front office to pay two 1sts to the 49ers for him.***
Edit: There are some who say if Aiyuk were forced to play under the 5th year + non-exclusive tag(s) that he would intentionally sandbag his performance or cause locker room toxicity to force a trade. I do not believe this is likely.
These men compete their entire lives for an opportunity to compete in the NFL. Never underestimate the competitve drive of a professional athlete. Not only that, but doing so would *demonstrate to potential trade partners that he is a liability in the locker room and when his contract year arrives.* Further, intentionally being less productive would reduce his value on the market, costing him even more money.
SF should come up a bit
If we pay him now, we de-incentivize him to work harder in 2024.
Why would you want to pay a performance based job more money in advance? If we pay him now, he is cashing in on a career year. If we pay/tag/trade him next year, THIS is his contract year. This means that if we DONT pay him, he is highly incentivized to play his best ever football.
Make no mistake. Aiyuk bad a good year, and he was banking on himself to get a deal done based off of that performance. We were never going to extend him now.
The only way we get a deal done EARLY is if he takes a friendly deal. He will have much more leverage next year. He needs to be patient and plY his contract.
We can win the SB without BA.
Good.
I love BA, but the team holds all the cards.
Is B.A worth the money? Yes. Should the niners invest in him? I don’t know… I’m on the fence with him. He’s a stud and deserves big money but I don’t know if it should be a priority this year… and def not next year when we need to pay up on Brock…
No way in hell to I give him $30million a year.
Paying Aiyuk 30 a year would hurt this team
Good – he has no leverage
If he wants to sit, fine him
Rule 1 of parenting. When a child throws a fit, you don’t give in.
I’m always on the player’s side for contract negotiations as they’re the ones putting their skin and health on the line and billionares will billionare no matter what.
However Aiyuk doesn’t have any leverage for this negotiation. Best he can do is drama and personally I get tired of it.
17 comments
Why should they? Nothing has changed
Good
At what point do we start blaming the front office for this mess?
Fans are mad at Aiyuk for flexing what little leverage he has on social media but imo low-balling an elite player for 4 months is just as bad.
Last year the front office fucked around and found out with Bosa. They low-balled for months which led to a holdout which led to Bosa not being ready for the season.
I was hoping the front office learned their lesson after that. Seems like they didn’t.
nor should they
*Niners!*
Good. Love BA, but the team has to be realistic. There’s a fixed amount of money to go around and Brock’s contract is due this coming offseason which will make a major impact on the pool of cap funds available.
If they give Aiyuk what he wants, there is zero chance we can keep the defense together. Consider guys like Greenlaw and Mooney Ward as good as gone.
Fact is, Aiyuk has no leverage. They can make him play out his contract and tag him for the following two years if needed. He was offered a fair deal that would pay him something like $15M more than he’d make if they just held on to him with successive tags.
[removed]
If a deal is not made and Aiyuk plays on the 5th year option that’s $14M.
Then, we can use a non-exclusive franchise tag on him for ~$25M. Either a team tops that and gives us two 1sts (score!) or we pay him ~$25M in 2025.
If a team didn’t pony up two 1sts, we tag him again for ~$30M in 2026.
In total, that would be paying him ~$69M over three years, $23M/year.
Jaylen Waddle, who has been more productive than Aiyuk (and while competing with Tyreek, just as Aiyuk competes with Deebo and Kittle, which I would say is comparable) just signed a $28M/yr deal.
Based on Waddle’s deal, Aiyuk’s market value would be somewhere in the ballpark of $26.5-27.5M.
So we have a guy we can get two 1sts for at worst, and pay him $23M/year average over three years on the tag at best. If our FO has offered anything around $26-27M average and Aiyuk hasn’t taken the deal, that’s on him. Assuming a $26M/year deal for three years, he’d still make $9M more over the next three years by signing a contract. According to some sources $26M/year is what we offered him.
**Look at it this way: we can either have him cheap on a 5th year + non-exclusive tag x2, or we can have him cheap this season and get two 1sts for him per the tag rules.**
Aiyuk is overplaying his hand here. I don’t think there’s a team in the NFL that would be willing to give up two 1sts for him, especially considering they’d be paying him $28M+ per year after doing so. I don’t think there’s a team in the NFL that would be willing to give up a 1st and a 2nd for him either, considering that didn’t happen before the draft.
A lot of people have been coming back to me saying “well he can sit.” Well, no, he can’t.
If he sits this year he will not accrue a season on his rookie contract and he’ll be in the same exact place he was last year.
If he plays under the 5th year option this year then refuses to sign the non-exclusive tag or signs and refuses to play he’s giving up an entire season’s salary – something no NFL player making tens of millions of dollars a year will do.
***If Aiyuk’s goal is to maximize his bag – something I would never fault any NFL player for doing – his best option seems to be to sign a 3-year deal with the 49ers at a rate above $23M/year and below $28M/year, or to convince another NFL front office to pay two 1sts to the 49ers for him.***
Edit: There are some who say if Aiyuk were forced to play under the 5th year + non-exclusive tag(s) that he would intentionally sandbag his performance or cause locker room toxicity to force a trade. I do not believe this is likely.
These men compete their entire lives for an opportunity to compete in the NFL. Never underestimate the competitve drive of a professional athlete. Not only that, but doing so would *demonstrate to potential trade partners that he is a liability in the locker room and when his contract year arrives.* Further, intentionally being less productive would reduce his value on the market, costing him even more money.
SF should come up a bit
If we pay him now, we de-incentivize him to work harder in 2024.
Why would you want to pay a performance based job more money in advance? If we pay him now, he is cashing in on a career year. If we pay/tag/trade him next year, THIS is his contract year. This means that if we DONT pay him, he is highly incentivized to play his best ever football.
Make no mistake. Aiyuk bad a good year, and he was banking on himself to get a deal done based off of that performance. We were never going to extend him now.
The only way we get a deal done EARLY is if he takes a friendly deal. He will have much more leverage next year. He needs to be patient and plY his contract.
We can win the SB without BA.
Good.
I love BA, but the team holds all the cards.
Is B.A worth the money? Yes. Should the niners invest in him? I don’t know… I’m on the fence with him. He’s a stud and deserves big money but I don’t know if it should be a priority this year… and def not next year when we need to pay up on Brock…
No way in hell to I give him $30million a year.
Paying Aiyuk 30 a year would hurt this team
Good – he has no leverage
If he wants to sit, fine him
Rule 1 of parenting. When a child throws a fit, you don’t give in.
I’m always on the player’s side for contract negotiations as they’re the ones putting their skin and health on the line and billionares will billionare no matter what.
However Aiyuk doesn’t have any leverage for this negotiation. Best he can do is drama and personally I get tired of it.
Can at least the preseason start already?